Upon noticing the damage, which is not hard to miss even for a novice gardener like me, I called Augusto.
"Ciao, Augusto. Bad news."
"Lina, cosa c'e'?!"
"Cinghiale. They took everything."
"I'll be right there."
We walked the whole area looking for how they got in. Finally we saw this.

We surmised that it was one little guy who squeezed his chubby little
wild boar butt in under my fence. And proceeded to feast on my
fave...and peas....and onions. He was very thorough, gotta give him
that.

He did leave me the broccoli, proving that children of all nationalities and species don't like broccoli.

For dinner tonight I
will eat broccoli. Only broccoli. Given the time and effort I've put
into the orto and the money I've paid Augusto to prepare and plant this
garden, I'm pretty sure that this will be the most expensive meal I've ever eaten.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

So it's a beautiful autumn Sunday in Maberga. The sky is brilliant
blue, the olives on the trees are plump and black, and the sun is
providing the perfect warmth to balance the chill in the morning air.
The dogs and I are having our morning walk.The morning walk rule is that
everyone gets their needs met. This means I go up to the terraces to
watch my fava beans grow, Q does a circuit of leaps and runs to explore,
and Ruffino stands three terraces below me, waiting for me to do
something exciting.

After about 15 minutes this morning,
having been distracted by the beauty of the day, I notice that the
dogs are no where in sight. I call them. Q immediately comes bounding
back to me from God knows where, completely wet. It seems she felt she
needed a bath this morning. I'm not exactly sure where she found a body
of water but... whatever, individual needs and all that. More calling
because Ruff's still not around. Hmm. Q and I go searching, walking
through the tall grass (of someone else's terrace, not mine of course
because mine are now all clean!!!) and I hear some chewing.

There's
Ruffino, basking in the golden morning sun...with a big freaking bloody
bone in his mouth. Lying just beyond him is the severed head of a baby
goat.

I'm not so sorry to tell you that I did not make a
photo of it. If you can't form your own mental picture, be
thankful...or think of the horse head scene from the Godfather, but with
a smaller head and no silk sheets.

Ya know, a gorgeous fall day can just as easily be enjoyed from inside the confines of one's own fenced in garden.

Monday, October 17, 2011

So, maybe you've noticed that I've been a little spotty in the blog posting. Yeah, well. I've been busy. It's looked something like this

Remember my Maaema Scarf from the creative Denise at Lost City Knits? Yeah, well, I still haven't finished it. I got about 3 feet into it and then something distracted me. Kind of like this...

And then....the other day a very special package arrived in the mail. A wonderful, amazing gift just for me! I know it's just for me because it was my birthday gift to myself.

Check this out!

Yep, that's some really awesome sock yarn all the way from Oklahoma. Let's just admire it again...

I ordered it from Lost City Knits. So when it arrived I remembered my poor Maaema scarf and, with the willpower of steel that we all know I possess, I'm determined to finish the scarf before I let myself fondle knit with my new treats.

Look at what the colors are called...

If you are a knitter or know a knitter who you would like to make really really happy, check out Denise's yarn. Her colors are amazing.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

So, Ambra called me on Sunday and said, "can I come over and play?"

"Heck yeah. Let's make some aprons and sip pina coladas."

Sew, that's what we did.

I'd really like to write more now but I have my viola lesson tomorrow morning and I need to practice a bit. Just in case any of you are wondering how these voila lessons are going, well, it looks a lot like this...

Saturday, October 08, 2011

Hi all. Some technical difficulties in Maberga. So it seems that my two years
have expired, meaning I needed to buy a new computer. I'm not sure why my
computers only last two years but they do. My guess is that they
breathe too much dog hair. Yeah, I'm blaming the dogs. The dogs ate my
homework.

I have so much to write now that I don't know where to
begin. So instead of boring with "catch up" stuff that I would just
write in some list form that would be so totally uninteresting that I'd
be embarrassed to hit 'publish', I'll just focus on the one thing.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

A few years ago,
when I used to do regular birthday posts, I shared a haiku that I had written for my dad's birthday. At that time I promised more info about
my dad to come each year with new haikus. Well, I stopped writing haikus.
I don't know why. They are seriously fun to write...'specially when you only do one of the three required verses.

I'm back...

Happy Birthday, Dad. Here's your 2011 haiku.

Anthony, my dad. In the winter of his life.Or so he thinks...so.

Happy Birthday, Dad. You're still my first pick for teams for football in the backyard.

Of course, I must also say that grandma, at almost 101, is my second pick.